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Dreadnoughts thread on military history

I've really been into the Greek war movies lately. I recently saw troy and really liked it. It spurred me to look into Greek mythology and all of that, Helen of Troy (schwing), Achilles (Schwing schwing), Paris, etc. anyway, I saw the 300 again recently for the umpteenth time and was wondering why the arrows stuck in the shield. what was the shield made of. Also, it appears that the phalanx was the predecessor to tank warfare. Am I accurate in this statement Dread? I know that you are somewhat of a military history geek so I thought of you while watching these movies.

1526. The Turks are invading Europe with over 100,000 men led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Target for starters is Hungary, led by the useless and weak King Louis. Louis belatedly realizes he is in deep shit, and sends out the calls for help to the rest of Christendom

The messages arrive in the German city of Speyer, where Lutheran states and Catholic states are arguing hammer and tongs over theology, and where the Emperor Charles V (ruler of pretty much everything) is trying to defend Catholicsim, while the Pope tries to stab him in the back because he is too powerful, and the French are secretly in cahoots with the Pope, and also have a secret treaty with the Muslim Turks...

...Anyways. It is agreed upon after a month worth of deliberations that an Army must certainly be sent to Hungary. And the size of this army, and the money each state will contribute to raise the Army, will be all established by a multinational Commission, which will study what is to be done and come up with a series of binding recommendations, after which the work of actually raising all this money for the Army can begin.

Bottom line was the battle of Mohacs. 24,000 Hungarians troops fought, of whom 22,000 are killed in action, and the 2,000 POW's had their heads put on poles by the Muslims around the Sultan's tents. King Louis of Hungary drowned trying to flee the battlefield. Arguably its why Hungary became a Central European backwater to this day rather than being a playa on the World scene

I will have to work up a narrative of the Battle of Fraustadt in 1706. The Swedes gave a Saxon-Polish Army a thorough country ass-whupping. Think of the beatings we used to put on the Raiders back in our golden era. I'll dedicate that one to El Cid

Even 4 engine bombers could be used for tactical support. We pretty much destroyed the Panzer Lehr Division in Normandy with carpet bombing - now that was a good use of air power, not burning down a city.